At an age when many of his peers are worried about starting careers, paying off student loans, and making rent, Corey lives with his mom, fitfully searches for jobs, and worries mostly about vanquishing orcs and leveling up in DungeonQuest, his MMORPG of choice. Retreating into the world of swords and spells, he can hide from the confounding world of humans, of eye contact and skin contact and co-workers who report him for not being social enough.

At the end of her rope for not the first or even fiftieth time, Corey’s mother Evelyn likens her son to a homebody Bonaparte, a childlike emperor who has laid claim to her life as well as his own. Having raised him (mostly without the help of his remarried father), she now has to face the question of what to do with him. Their search for a way forward is made more urgent by Evelyn’s announcement that a great foe awaits her, greater than Corey has ever encountered on the digital plane.

Driven by Will Dagger’s mobile and prickly lead performance, NAPOLEON has the good sense to wear its fantasy frame lightly, leaning instead on Norman Lear-esque living room realism as it follows the kind of family conversation that’s easy to avoid but impossible to escape. 16 minutes. Directed by Michael Lukk Litwak. Written by Daniel Reitz. Starring Will Dagger and Caroline Lagerfelt.

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